The focus for the 9th week (Feb. 06 – Mar. 12) of the 52 Weeks of Gratitude Challenge was:
List 5 Things You Like You About You
I actually started compiling this list around the middle of last year. Thank God for the focus of this week on the 52 Weeks of Gratitude Challenge, I finally get to publish it.
What you’re about to read is what I consider my own special powers. They are some of the things I like about myself. The list is not complete though, but it is a subset of “Weird & Cool Facts about me”. Still, some of you may find this list interesting, or cool. So, enjoy as you read.
1. Caffeine Resistance
One cool thing that I like about me is my resistance to caffeine. That means coffee, cola, energy drink, etc. all have zero effect on me.
The first time I remember taking coffee, was back in secondary school. I and my cousin needed to study for an exam the next day, so we decided to make some Nescafe. I do not recall if we added sugar or milk, and I do not remember what the experience of drinking coffee was like.
But I remember feeling so alert, with eyes bright as a search lamp! We read all through the night, until morning or until it was time for the exam. I don’t remember. But It worked like magic!
Nescafe was a household name when I was growing up. We always had this small can of Nescafe on the dining table. It was a constant. Just like you have chairs and a table in the dining room, Nescafe had to be there too to complete the picture.
All those years I watched my father drink Nescafe every morning, I had no idea it was this magical!
The next day, I decided to take another shot at this magical drink. But what happened that night, was shocking! I don’t recall how it all happened, but after I took the coffee, I waited for the magic to start.
I decided to rest my head for a little while and then read later in the night, but that was it. I slept like a baby! I did not even wake up in the middle of the night to urinate, or anything like that.
Since then, coffee never worked for me! I have observed something about coffee and my body system. The first time I try a different type of coffee, it will appear to have an effect on me. But the next time I take it, there would be no effect.
The first time I tried Starbucks coffee, it kept me alert for about 30 minutes or so. I was “wowed”! But that was it; I am now immune to Starbucks. The same thing happened the first time I tried Turkish coffee.
It kept me going for about an hour, and I felt impressed! Since then, I got hooked on the stuff. But I only drink coffee today in hopes that it will keep me alert. And I am always disappointed. 100% of the time, I am disappointed.
Then talk about energy drink and cola. I remember the day I heard about one of my friends misbehaving after taking energy drink. The people that were around her that day said she behaves that way after drinking cola or energy drink.
Others have confirmed that energy drink, and sometimes cola, makes people go hyper. It’s sad that I never had the experience. I have taken a lot of energy drink in my lifetime. In fact, I have mixed energy drink and coffee once before.
I had so much work to do that night and I was behind on several project deadlines. I felt tired and sleepy, but I knew that coffee or energy drink wouldn’t work. So I decided to mix them together, and unfortunately, nothing happened. Well something actually happened.
I did not feel alert or energetic, but I could feel the excess gush of blood to my brain. It felt like my head was going to explode! I was afraid that night. But still, no energy to work and I was yet again disappointed.
So that’s it. I find it cool that I am caffeine resistant. I guess I belong to the 9% of the general population that are resistant to caffeine.
2. Natural Alarm
During one period of my childhood, I had a room all to myself. I remember there used to be a clock on the wall to the right-hand side of my bed. And there was a certain period that every morning when I woke up, I would look at the clock and the time was always the same! Every morning when I woke up, the clock would read 8 o’clock. And no, the clock was not bad and there was nothing wrong with it. But I found myself waking up at the same time every day. That is my earliest memory of this ability.
I observed the same thing too once time at our uncle’s place in Lagos, where we spent holidays as kids. We slept at his hotel, which was opposite his house, but we always had breakfast in his house. And as it were, my siblings and cousins always left the chair at the edge of the dining table for me. Behind my chair, was the clock.
For a couple of consecutive days, I would turn around to look at the time before I start my breakfast. Each time I looked, for those couple of days, the time always read 8 o’clock. And again, the clock was not bad and nothing was wrong with it. But that is by the way side.
Sometimes it is a blessing, and other times, it feels like a curse. But I can wake up just at about anytime I want, with a difference of up to 20 mins. That means, if I should be awake at 10 o’clock, I can wake myself up between 10 minutes to 10 or 10 minutes passed 10.
I noticed this in the year 2013 when I decided to take my sleep serious. I started timing my sleep, setting “sleep alarms” and wake up alarms. After a few days, I noticed that I would always wake up a few minutes before the set time. Then I decided to confirm my suspicion by not setting wake up alarms. As I had guessed, I was waking up at the time I wanted to.
My first thought was that maybe I got used to waking up at a certain time of the morning. So I changed the time to something else, and I was still able to wake up at the new time. Since then, I stopped using wake up alarms for good!
It becomes a curse when I find myself waking up at the same time of the morning, irrespective of what time I go to bed. Whether I sleep at 10 pm or 3 am, I will find myself waking up at 6 am. 6 am is the time I want to wake up every morning, so naturally I wake up at that time.
If I have to be up at any other time, I can wake up around that time as well. As a result, its hard for me to oversleep. It’s not like I never oversleep, but it hardly ever happens.
3. Near Accurate Estimations
I’ve done this with a couple of people, and I always win in making the closest estimates. Whether it’s estimating the duration of a journey or the total amount of items in a shopping cart, I often win . I have tried it in different situations. My estimates are either loser, or at least 80% to 90% close to the actual figure.
Maybe it’s a gift, I don’t know. But I know how I do it. Once you give me enough information, I am able to “process” and analyse it into a good estimate. I have done it for software and website projects, even school projects.
I always play the game with my sister when driving. We try to see who can guess the exact time we would arrive at our destination. All the times we played, I had the closest estimate.
Even when taking a walk I can estimate how long it will take me to get to my destination. I know that I walk as fast as 1 km in 10 mins. But it is my ability to estimate distances in kilometers that make me able to guess how long a walk will take me. More often than not, my estimates in distance are usually not more than 200 meters more or less.
Often times, it doesn’t matter the situation. But as long as I have valid and correct information, I can make pretty good analysis. In fact, I think I should be an analyst. Maybe I’m just lucky, but I’m often right, and sometimes even for the wrong reasons.
4. I’ve Never Been Drunk
Whenever I say I’ve never been drunk, they say drunk people usually don’t know when they’re drunk. It is true though. I have seen and heard about people who were obviously drunk, but try to prove that they’re not. Pathetic!
But on a serious note, I have never been drunk! Alcohol does make me tipsy and light headed, but that’s about it. In fact, one of my friends believes that I cannot get drunk. So she plotted for years to get me drunk, but failed to ever execute her plans.
I don’t actually know what my limit is, or what I would be like when drunk. A few people have attributed some of my behaviors to drunkenness, even when I was well aware of what was going on.
Like one night by the seaside when I told a girl that I was in love with her. Together, we both drank about 2 liters of Don Simon, and she believed it was drunk Kheme that was talking. Whereas I had planned that night for quite sometime.
Since people never saw me drunk, they always watch me whenever I’m taking alcohol. Knowing that people are observing, I become under pressure not to appear drunk lol. If I become too quiet, they’ll say I’m drunk. If I talk too much, they’ll say I’m drunk.
And most times, alcohol gives me a little more energy, so I talk a little more than usual. I often feel so light headed that I fear to stand. Nevertheless, I do get up and can walk a straight line. So when would I ever get drunk?
The worst experience I have had with alcohol was one night at a barbecue party in Cyprus. I went with 3 of my female friends, who invited their female friends. I wasn’t really friends with the guys there, so I hung out with the ladies who were my friends.
We all were drinking Smirnoff Ice and the guys were teasing me for drinking “ladies’ drink”. So one of them snatched the Smirnoff Ice, and gave me a big vanilla flavored pure Smirnoff. About a quarter of the bottle remained, and they insisted I finished it.
Well, I did not want to look like a slacker, so I eventually finished it during the course of the party. That was the night I developed hatred for alcohol because I had too much of it.
The party ended prematurely because as usual, some guys got drunk and a fight broke out. The ladies became scared and so they took off, and I left with them. That was the night my friend told me, that she thinks I cannot get drunk.
Till date, I am still curious to know what will happen when I get drunk. I still drink alcohol, especially red wine. I learned that taking alcohol in moderation is actually quite healthy. Red wine is even healthier. And since I learned this, my preferred choice of alcoholic drink will always be some red win.
And for the record, I don’t do scotch, whisky, vodka, rakı and beer. Anything else, I can bear lol.
5. I Don’t Lie
Okay well, it’s not like I never lie, but it’s just not my style. Whenever I tell people that “I don’t lie”, they always respond with “everybody lies!”. But I reply saying “not me!”. And to prove it, I started keeping record of my lies in 2013. I call my “Book of Lies”. By the end of the year 2014, I realized that I told an average of 1 lie per month. It sounds impressive, but I’m hoping to make it 1 lie per year, or 0%.
If you don’t know me, you may argue that I probably tell more lies than 1 every month, on average. But those who know me, know that I don’t lie. In fact, some argue that I am too honest, even to a fault. I agree. There have been times when I could have lied to save my ass, but I still tell truth even when I know I will get in trouble.
For me, it is simple: whatever will be, will be. If telling the truth will get me into trouble, then I deserve it. I don’t believe in knowing when to lie or tell the truth. I believe in living my life in a way that I don’t have to lie. That’s why I try to lead a transparent life, and avoid those things that I won’t be proud of if ever I’m caught doing them. To me, that is much easier than knowing when to lie.
So that’s it! 5 Weird and Cool facts about me.
Bonus: 6th Cool fact about me is my 6th Sense Superpower. Read about it here.
Now it’s your turn… what’s so cool about you?
Please share in the comments section below.
7 things I was grateful for during the 9th week of this 52 weeks of gratitude challenge:
- Thank God for deep freezers
- Today I changed my car’s fuel pump, and I couldn’t help but be amazed at all the little components that make up a car. I have to say… Thank God for the engineers that build cars!
- Even though we had a deflated tire, we got to Benin safe and before dark… I thank God for that
- I thank God that we got the balance part-payment for the current BackandFront project
- Good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people… it’s called life. But I am most thankful that I (and my family) have not had to experience anything terrible or horrible. Bad things happen every day, and we hear the stories. I’m just glad that we are not in one of those stories!
- I’m grateful for radio waves that make it possible to carry data and information over long distances
- We use it in making buildings, making casts, putting out fire, and we even played with it as kids. I’m talking about sand! Let us thank God for sand
View last week’s post: www.kheme.tk/2016/03/feeling-expressing-gratitude/